Rate My Professor Lauren Tynan

Dr. Lauren Tynan, a Pairrebenne Trawlwoolway woman from Tebrakunna Country in northeast Tasmania, serves as Research Fellow in the Discipline of Geography and Planning within the School of Communication, Society and Culture at Macquarie University. She completed her PhD at Macquarie University in February 2025 without corrections, with a thesis titled Kin and Country: Relational Research, Cultural Fire and Indigenous Futurities, supervised by Kate Lloyd, Sandie Suchet-Pearson, and Fiona Miller. Her earlier degrees include a Bachelor of International Studies in Development Studies and a Master of Development Studies from the University of New South Wales. Prior to her academic career, Tynan worked in the not-for-profit sector. Her research centers on human geography and Indigenous studies, emphasizing Indigenous and decolonising methodologies, relationality with Country through Aboriginal cultural burning practices, ethics in research, climate change, and land management. She co-developed the Kin and Country Framework with Michelle Bishop in 2022, serving as a pedagogical tool to center Indigenous knowledges and perspectives in higher education across social and natural sciences.

Tynan leads several research projects, including 'Changes to Country, changes to wellbeing: insights from Tebrakunna Country,' 'An Indigenous-led approach to advance the health and wellbeing of Tebrakunna Country and people,' and 'Kin and Country learning: developing Indigenous pedagogies for Australian higher education.' Notable publications include 'What is relationality? Indigenous knowledges, practices and futurities' (2021), 'Thesis as kin: living relationality with research' (2020), 'Decolonizing the literature review: a relational approach' (2023), 'Data collection versus knowledge theft: relational accountability and the research ethics of Indigenous knowledges' (2024), 'Climate change is colonial (mis)management of Country: wildfires and Indigenous cultural burning in Australia' (2025), and 'Biyani Guwiyang Dharug Ngurrawa: healing fire on Dharug Country' (2025). She has received the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), First Nations Fellowship from the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (2025), Institute of Australian Geographers Award for Dissertation Excellence (2025), Australian Journal of Human Rights Andrea Durbach Prize (2020, co-recipient), and Lowitja Institute Postgraduate Top-up Scholarship (2021). Tynan reviews for journals such as Qualitative Inquiry and Environment and Planning F, and holds memberships in the Healthy Environments and Lives National Research Network and NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre. Her contributions promote ethical, relational research practices and Indigenous futurities.